Oil and gas producers spent an estimated $122.8 billion to drill wells in the US in 2015, 27.2% less than in 2014, the American Petroleum Institute said in its 2015 Joint Association Survey of Drilling Costs.
About 28,809 oil and natural gas wells were drilled in 2015, down 37.6% from 2014 levels. However, the number of shale-gas wells drilled remained relatively unchanged from 2014 to 2015 and shale well expenditures saw an increase of about $119 million.
Expenditures on shale drilling represented 47.7% of costs, nearly half of all spending on drilling in 2015.
The report also shows expenditures on oil accounted for 64.5% of all drilling costs in 2015, and gas expenditures accounted for 24.8% of costs, up from 24.4% in 2014.
Development well expenditures were $109.6 billion in 2015, while exploratory well expenditures were estimated at $5.6 billion.
